


Nexilis

by Justawriter68



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, Curses, Fantasy elements, Illnesses, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Magic, Minor Injuries, Platonic Relationships, Serious Injuries, Treatment of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:06:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23455993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justawriter68/pseuds/Justawriter68
Summary: Jongdae works as a healer in the House of Restoration, and although it can be a little hectic at times, especially with a brand new disease on the horizon.He wouldn't change his life for anything.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Everyone
Comments: 10
Kudos: 17
Collections: Magika Astra: Thundervalor





	Nexilis

**Author's Note:**

> **Archive Number:** MA-TV-18  
>  **Conduit:** Each of them played an important role in the House of Restoration, but Chen often wondered how anyone would have imagined taking 12 boys (well, 10 boys, a dragon-boy, and a unicorn-boy) and making them into healers.
> 
>  **Author's Note:** Hello, Hello! This is my entry for short Thundervalor round of Magika Astra, I will say that it was a bit of a challenge as it was my first historical Au, and hard for me to focus on an aspect of history. Especially the Silla period, there was a lot, but I hope I gave you enough to be able to imagine everything! To the prompter I hope you enjoy this little slice, as I was trying to keep it relatively short so it wouldn't spiral into a longer fic, thank you for prompting! 
> 
> Please enjoy!  
> 

The smell of burning cloth, herbs, and various other healing medicines, sounds of groans and moans from different points in the room. A symphony of what could be considered healing, and for others maybe just pure pain. 

For Jongdae it was what made up his everyday life, most of the sounds just becoming useful background noise as he moved through the facility. 

It was the very thing that made up his life, the familiarity of all of the activity that was going on at the moment. However, the more recent activity seemed to be worse, a random up spring of a disease that ravaged the body faster than anything that they had ever seen. 

It wasn't just local to the poorer villages and the other commoners, but of course it had only become of greater concern and greater panic once it had reached the nobles. 

There for making other cases more noticeable. 

This was also on top of the other cases of normal injury, broken bones, scrapes, and bruises. 

And along with those injuries came those who were Those who wouldn't have usual access to care are now here, although the cases weren't overwhelming, it was becoming more noticeable however. People coming in with large lesions on their skin bloody and ever spreading from the few cases they had, even Yixing's healing gift was hard pressed to heal the otherwise slight wounds. 

But at the moment he was at his wits end almost with the man who had been following him since his son had been brought there this morning. 

"This is outrageous!" The man croons, his voice shaking with the mere thought of having to wait for his son to be treated obviously a tragedy. "We are Sacred Bone! We have the priority." He hears the man frustratedly clap his hands together. “My son is being considered as a member of the  _ Hwarang _ !” 

Jongdae stops in his tracks, robes swishing slightly as he turns to address the man, clothes covered in a little blood, and other treatments from helping the others since this morning. "Listen sir, we understand that it is important to you that your son receive care. And he will... as soon as we get to him." 

The man doesn't like that response his face slightly turning red at the implication of not getting his way immediately. "I'll have you reported for this type of treatment!" 

Jongdae's eyes narrow slightly at the implication of his words, and he does have to keep back a little scoff. "Then you can bring it up with Her Majesty. I'm sure she would be happy to hear your complaint about the House of Restoration." he gives a polite smile. 

The man slightly gapes at this, his face failing, knowing that there would be no way he would be able to even get an audience with Her Majesty. He simply grits his teeth and then storms away. 

Jongdae is sure that the man might cause him more in the future, but he couldn't be bothered with it at the moment. Instead he continues his way through the halls, wood creaking slightly under foot as he made his way back to the main treatment room. Guards lining the halls, and the smell of the outdoors blowing in through some of the open screen windows. 

When he finally makes it back into the chaos, he can see that most of the cases that had been here were beginning to dwindle down, but it was still a lot more to deal with than they had been used to. 

Jongdae makes his way over to Junmyeon with the rags he had asked for, the older man currently trying to clear out a wound that had been filled with infection. The skin red and sore around the area where the skin was split, some of the edges turning black, the infection inside turning it into a mess of puss seeping, green and white.

Luckily Jongdae's nose had long since become accustomed to the smell of rotting flesh and sick. 

"Will he get to keep the leg, hyung?" Jongdae inquires, handing him the clean cloth. 

"Thank you..." the white rag dampens immediately upon touching Junmyeon's hands. "And I don't know we'll see..." He begins wiping away the puss from the wound. "What took you so long?"

"There was one of the nobles causing a scene, he was demanding that his son be seen right away." Jongdae explains. 

Junmyeon only sighs, shaking his head. "I'm sure I'll hear about it later... but for now. I think Luhan needed your help." he states. 

Jongdae nods. "I'm on it.... where is he?" 

"In one of the private rooms, more than likely with the noble's son that you were talking about." 

Jongdae heads off in that direction without another word, working his way through the now mostly empty tables. He knew that cleaning up was going to be a bit of a chore. But it would be worth it if everyone went home or at least improved in their condition.

He finds his way back to the more private room, blocked off by another screened in door, this was preserved for most of the exclusive patients when the time came. None of them really saw the need for it, but it was the quality that they demanded when coming here even if they were as sick as a commoner who made their way through the doors.

"Gege, Myeon-hyung said you needed me?" 

Luhan looks up, his eyes lighting up a little in relief as he sees him. "Thank the gods... I need you to help keep him still while I examine." He has his hands on the younger man's temple. 

It was more than obvious that this man was inflicted with the same strange sort of lesions that they had seen on some of the other villagers when they came in. But these seemed more advanced as if they had been aggravated by something else, or had sat longer. Instead of the red they had originally seen, these were purplish and more like bruises. They also extended up to his face, where it had begun swelling and oozing a little bit, deforming his face a little bit, and he was sure that it would only get worse, on top of that it looked as if the poor man had been trying to scratch his own skin off, blood caked under rather blunt finger nails, patches of hair missing as well. 

"These look different..." Jongdae remarks, a grimace coming to his lips. 

"I know... he complains about them burning, and swipes at himself as if there's something there." Luhan sighs, there's a little blood on the sleeves of his tunic. "I'm going to need you to place the acupuncture needles so he stays down, or else we'll get nothing done with the way he flails around." 

Jongdae nods, getting the wooden box and then carefully placing the needles, in the younger man's body in the places necessary, making sure that they would stay in place as well. "I think you should be okay to let go now, gege." 

Luhan lets go, again letting out a little breath when the man does in fact stay unconscious, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. "Thank you, Zongda..." He smiles. 

"Need anymore help?" 

"No, I should be fine... but I think someone should check on, Yixing. You know how he gets." The older man wipes his hands off on a fresh cloth. "If you see Baekhyun, tell him I'll be there in a moment. I was supposed to help him set a leg." 

"You've got it." 

Jongdae leaves the private room, heading back past the healing room to their private quarters. No work was really supposed to be brought back here. But he hopes that since he hadn't seen Yixing out on the working floor meant that he was back here actually resting for once without someone having to check up on him, or scrape him off of the floor after overwork. 

He would have to say that out of all of them, Yixing was really the one born to truly do what the house of Restoration was formed to do. The rest of them almost seemed like they were the ones that had to adapt to survive here. 

Even if it was partly to make better relations with the neighboring Kingdom of Yuan. 

He heads down the hall, pushing back many doors, passing their internal eating quarters, and the entrance to their bathing pool. 

Arriving at the door he was looking for he gently knocks on it, poking his head around the now open door. "Hyung?" He calls softly. 

The room is decorated sparsely, everything having its nice little place, and on the floor is Yixing, slightly elevated from the floor by a built wooden frame bed with him lying down in it. the cover pattern of flowers, amidst a light silk gold background, one of the gifts from an older noble lady that he had treated a while back to repay her for her gratitude. 

Even now she comes around just to have tea with him sometimes when it isn't too busy as well as see the rest of the house. 

That was the sort of effect that Yixing had on the people around him, generally even the most cranky and difficult of patents liked him if no one else in the end of their time here. 

Jongdae thinks the other man looks so peaceful that it would be a shame to wake him, but he did need to see how he was feeling and make sure that the other man wouldn't be awake all night. 

He walks over to the mat, the floor under him a soft tread of his socks, on the wooden floors, fixing his robes so that they sat neatly under him and so that if there was anything on them he wouldn't get them on the fabric of his bedding or too much on the floor. 

"Hyung..." He shakes him with a light hand. 

The other man stirs slightly, eyes blinking, taking in the light streaming into the room despite it being the dead of evening. " _ Zhongda _ ?" The question slurs from his mouth as he regains his bearings, his native tongue slipping out easily. 

"Yeah it's me..." He smiles at the older man. 

"What's wrong? Do you need me?" The other man is already making his way to sit up.

"No, no... I just came to check on you. How are you feeling?" He rests a hand on his shoulder. 

Yixing smiles sweetly at him, dimples appearing as a marker of the smile. "I'm well... still feel a little tired, but it's better than it was earlier." He rubs one eye, the golden color of them beginning to show themselves as he becomes more awake. 

Jongdae smiles. "Who got you down?" 

"Minshuo..." a yawn escapes him as he stretches.

"Of course hyung did." Jongdae chuckles. 

Minseok was possibly equally the most caring and terrifying person they had ever met as the eldest of their little family, but they were grateful for it nonetheless, next to Junmyeon and Yifan he was one of their rocks.

"It's really impossible to say no to him when he gets that way." Yixing chuckles. "How are the patients?" 

Jongdae sits back a little on his legs. "They're well... we've got most of them stabilized. I know Luhan hyung was going to help Baek with a broken leg. And Jongin and Yifan-hyung are out doing house stops." 

Yixing nods, pleased with the information as he rubs the back of his neck briefly. "Thank you for waking me... I'll be out in a moment." 

Jongdae huffs a little bit. "Just be mindful, gege, you push yourself too hard sometimes." He stands from his sitting position. 

Yixing just gives him another gentle smile and he knows that this is all that he is going to get from the other man as far as that, so he leaves the room shutting the door behind him gently. 

On the way back to the main area he runs into Baekhyun holding a pail full of dirty and bloody bandages. 

"Have you seen Luhan-hyung?" He shifts the pail, his appearance overall looking a little ruffled. Their similar uniform a simple grey and white, almost woolen material, streaked in some bodily fluid or another. 

"He's in the first private room, he said he would be there to help you as soon as he finished up with the person in there." 

Baekhyun sighs a little. "What is it today?" He mumbles slightly, but then he straightens himself up. "Also Jongin and Yifan-hyung just brought in some people I'd go and help them." He shakes the pail slightly. 

"Will do... and remember to breathe Baek, we have a  _ higher calling _ ." Jongdae says as they begin to part ways. 

He hears a slight huff before he's gone out of sight, at the mention of their mission statement, if it could even be called that. 

Jongdae can only smile, shaking his head as he continues back into the main healing area to see indeed that there were now more people than before, two looking more serious than the others and others maybe just minor aches and illnesses. 

"Jongdae... help me for a moment!" Minseok calls him. 

Jongdae rushes over to the table he was at, where he was holding down the man writhing on the table as it seems that one part of his arm is completely burned. The flesh on his arm blistered bubbling red, he could smell the singing flesh from here, the skin in some places already fused and some just hanging onto the arm by a thread, blackened and charred.

"What happened?" 

"They say he accidentally knocked over a tube of coal while he was metalworking." Minseok explains. 

Jongdae grimaces, this wasn't going to be pretty even when Yixing got around to looking at it, he would be walking around with a permanent reminder of the accident. The screams from the man only worsen as he places a cool cloth on the skin of the arm, the man seems to scream himself until he passes out. 

Minseok lets out a slight sigh. "Well at least he did the hard part for us... I didn't know how we were going to get him to drink anything like this." 

Jongdae nods in agreement. "Do you need me to get anything?" 

Minseok nods, listing off a number of ingredients from their cabinets as well as some other clean bandages to put over the poultice as soon as he was done. Jongdae does as he's asked, going to get the ingredients and then combining them together as Minseok cleared out the wound as best he could, bits of hanging off flesh coming with the flushing as well. 

Jongdae tried no to imagine how much would actually fall off while it healed enough before Yixing felt confident enough to use his own healing abilities on it. 

The mixture of herbs makes his nose wrinkle a little bit, the strong scent permeating past anything else in the moment but hopefully it would help with the pain and keep him from getting an infection, but it would need to be a situation to watch closely. covering the arm and then wrapping it up was a delicate process, but they're proud of their work nonetheless after it was done. 

He doesn't know why but something about burn injuries have always gotten to him, give him broken bones, missing limbs, sores, you name it. But this was what made him feel even a little queasy if anything else. 

Minseok squeezes his shoulder. "You alright?" He noticed how the younger had become a little paler. 

"Yeah... my stomach just turned a little." He smiles a little. "I'll be alright." 

The rest of the evening goes on with not too much heavy content, they deal with a minor cold and some scrapes, and finally get that leg set before it's all said and done and they stop getting people for the night. 

The only excuse would be an emergency, or god forbid a member of the royal family needing to come to them for a direct emergency. 

Jongdae pops into a chair in their main meeting room, all of them having washed the day off of them and changed into different clothes, these one more personal, filled with designs, finer fabrics and finishes. 

Baekhyun plops down beside him, their shoulders bumping against each other. "I want to go out, but at the same time I don't." 

Jongdae sighs. "I feel you... but it's been so long since we've just walked the streets." 

"Then let's go." Junmyeon declares. "I think we all deserve it and I think it'll be good to get out of here for a while." 

"Can we get some stall food too?" Jongin brightens up, his eyes sparkling. 

"Of course... we'll find a sit down place too." Junmyeon smiles.

Jongin claps happily, and next to him Kyungsoo gives an easy smile.

The group soon departs from their place of residence, taking in the night air around them, their usual wooden surroundings replaced with the night air blowing a slight breeze. Instead of the usual moans and groans of people that they usually hear, it's more lively conversation, the streets equally filled with more laughter and smiles. 

Bright fabrics filling the streets around them, as well as the smell of food being cooked from vendors as well as the inns around the area. 

"We should find a place to sit down and eat." Kyungsoo announces.

"I agree... there's a place right around here." Junmyeon states. "Come on..." 

luckily the place they go to has enough room to push two tables together so all twelve of them could sit together. Though Jongdae suspected that if they hadn't looked like people with money, their request probably wouldn't have been as easily convinced to accomidate all of them. 

But for the moment he was glad to enjoy this moment with his family, as odd as they were sometimes, especially in the circumstances in which they were brought together. Though he thinks the situation could have led them to go either way, he was glad that their stress had pushed them together rather than apart.

He's sure if it hadn't the work environment would be completely different, they might have caused an incident between the two currently at peace kingdoms. 

"I sweat sometimes, I don't like going down to the outlying villages... not because I don't love what we do." Jongin remarks, pouring himself a cup of tea, the cup a pretty white with painted designs on the side, beautiful sprawling blooms. 

"What happened while you were out?" Tao asks. "Yifan-hyung mentioned that you two went through quite the ordeal." 

"It was just a lot of people who needed help and we couldn't get to all of them, trying to prioritize who got help first, and who needed to actually be brought back." Yifan sighs, pouring himself some alcohol. "If they paid as much attention to those people, or gave them the opportunity to have something out there maybe things wouldn't be as bad for them because they can't make the trip." 

"I agree... we saw more cases of those lesions again." Jongdae remarks, pouring his own cup of tea. And offering some to Minseok beside him as well as Baekhyun, lifting the slightly long sleeves of his outer robes, pouring from the black finished clay kettle. "It's in the nobles now." 

Jongin's eyes widen from down the table. "More this close into the main city... What even is it? They look like bruises at first. We advised some people to come if it worsened... I wish we had the room to contain it." He sighs. 

Kyungsoo rubs slight circles on his back, to help alleviate some of the pouting. 

"I'll have a talk with the palace... they can't ignore it now, especially since Yixing has been exhausting himself with everything going on. If we don't catch whatever this is now, it'll be unstoppable." Junmyeon says. 

"It might already be there, that Noble kid I treated... it was bad. And there seems not to be a way to treat it immediately other than Yixing's gift. But for obvious reasons we can't rely on that." Luhan states, throwing back his own drink. 

The man in question, smiles a little, his dimples showing just a little, the slight golden tint to his eyes coming through under this light. Apart from Yifan he was the only other member of their group where their gifts showed any outward expression. In Yifan this showed in little, almost translucent patches of scales along his skin, and his eyes a vibrant spring green. 

"Do you think that it would be something else causing it? Like something not Natural?" Sehun questions. The youngest of their group, sitting near the middle of the table in between Tao and Junmyeon. 

"You mean someone else with abilities?" Chanyeol asks, his own face contorting into a slight frown. “Or some type of curse or magic?”

“That would certainly be exciting, but at the same time… more work for us.” Baekhyun shovels some more rice into his mouth, which immediately earns a disapproving glare from Kyungsoo sitting across from him. 

Jongdae thinks over questions in his mind, and he does think that it does make sense, as none of their usual remedies had worked on the various people they had tried. With various stages of the lesions. 

"Well that's enough talking about this tonight," Junmyeon claps his hands together. "I'll take our concerns to the palace and hopefully they take it seriously."

"Want me to go with you?"Yifan asks, pouring the shorter man a drink. 

"That would be nice... now like I said let's enjoy ourselves." Junmyeon smiles. 

From then on the conversation turns from their work oriented and to more appropriate things to be talking over food and drink. Such as a recently published book that was coming out that they wanted to read or something that they had seen outside in the market just below, such as a fan or a nice crafted robe on Tao's part in which, Sehun remarked, did he really need any more with his room almost stuffed full. 

He stated that he had never seen Tao wear anything twice and that he more than likely had more outer robes and outfits than they all had combined.

Jongdae thinks he could agree on that, but he had to admit that Tao had impeccable taste and would let him dress him any day, especially for some of the formal important events they sometimes attend at the palace being around nobles and the royal family. Something rare, but could be fun as long as you didn't mind feeling like an animal in a zoo when they were curious about your abilities. 

Luckily Her Majesty wasn't too much into those sorts of displays, and usually cut them off quickly. 

But even though they were supposed to be prestigious and revered, there was the occasional person who was bold in their dislike of the residence of the so-called ‘House of Restoration’. 

Like at this moment when a man passing none too quietly in their direction utters 'freak' in Yixing's direction. 

Jongdae considered himself many things, one of those being patient, but issues like these are the ones that get under his skin. He could immediately feel the spark of current surging through his skin as his attention was turned to the man. He should be grateful for Yixing, Jongdae is convinced that at one point he's sure they had probably seen this man and helped cure that ever ailment or injury had afflicted him at the time.

"Jongdae-yah..." Yixing says, shaking his head with a gentle smile. 

Jongdae takes a breath, realizing that his tea cup had begun to tremble and boil slightly in his hands. But the older man was right, the random guy wasn't worth it. Even if he did know things like that actually did bother Yixing when they happened, especially when it happened to all of them.

"Okay, hyung." So he decides to return to his plate of food in front of him that Minseok had ever so kindly filled up once they had received their dishes. 

This doesn't stop Luhan however from looking over in the man's direction, the poor man suddenly losing his footing quite forcefully into another table. spilling drinks, from that table and other items all over himself. 

"Lu!" Minseok hisses. 

The other man only responds with a small smile and continues to sip his drink. 

Meanwhile everyone else was trying to suppress some type of smile behind their cups or food. 

The rest of their evening turns out fine, and before they know it they're back out on the streets checking out the fabrics and other things being displayed out. It's moments like these that he could feel that they were at least a little bit normal, just normal people out at the night market like everyone else. 

And it sort of brings him a sort of peace looking at his adopted family now, the way their eyes sparkle underneath the lantern lights painted beautifully lining the streets. Now more than ever he can see more of the influence the most recent cooperation of the kingdoms had brought, now more than ever spices, teas, language and more things than anyone could possibly read. 

He would only wish that things could stay that way. 

"Hey! Someone help! this man has been run over by a cart!" 

This snaps Jongdae out from his own rather lackluster search of several jade jewelry pieces in front of him, some entwined with gold or just the pure milky green color.

He can see immediately several of his brothers moving into action.

Although his life was strange and often filled with death he wouldn't change it for the world. 

Not with his family by his side. 


End file.
